Pliny the Elder > Quotes

“In wine, there's truth.”
― Pliny the Elder, Pliny: Natural History IV

“True glory consists in doing what deserves to be written, in writing what deserves to be read, and in so living as to make the world happier and better for our living in it.”
― Pliny the Elder

“True glory consists in doing what deserves to be written, and writing what deserves to be read.”
― Pliny the Elder

“The depth of darkness to which you can descend and still live is an exact measure of the height to which you can aspire to reach.”
― Pliny the Elder

“In these matters, the only certainty is that nothing is certain”
― Pliny the Elder, Plini naturalis historiae libri XXXVII: Vol. VI. Indices

“From the end spring new beginnings.”
― Pliny the Elder

“Nulla dies sine linea - Not a day without a line.”
― Pliny the Elder

“In vino veritas”
― Pliny the Elder

“Contact with [menstrual blood] turns new wine sour, crops touched by it become barren, grafts die, seed in gardens are dried up, the fruit of trees fall off, the edge of steel and the gleam of ivory are dulled, hives of bees die, even bronze and iron are at once seized by rust, and a horrible smell fills the air; to taste it drives dogs mad and infects their bites with an incurable poison.”
― Pliny the Elder, Natural History: A Selection

“Home is where the heart is”
― Pliny the Elder

“It is best not to be born or to die as soon as possible.”
― Pliny the Elder

“In comparing various authors with one another, I have discovered that some of the gravest and latest writers have transcribed, word for word, from former works, without making acknowledgment.”
― Pliny the Elder

“There is no book so bad it does not contain something good.”
― Pliny

“Out of Africa, there is always something new.”
― Pliny the Elder

“Non c'è nessun libro così cattivo che non abbia in sé qualcosa di buono.”
― Plinio il vecchio

“There is, to be sure, no evil without something good.”
― Pliny The Elder

“Wonderful is the wit and subtiltie that dumb creatures have & how they shift for themselves and annoy their enemies: which is the only difficultie that they have to arise and grow to so great an height and excessive bignesse. The dragon therefore espying the Elephant when he goeth to releese, assaileth him from an high tree and launceth himselfe upon him; but the Elephant knowing well enough well enough he is not able to withstand his windings and knittings about him, seeketh to come close to some trees or hard rockes, and so forth to crush and squise the dragon between him and them: the dragons ware hereof, entangle and snarle his feet and legges first with their taile: the Elephants on the other side, undoe those knots with their trunke as with a hand: but to prevent that againe, the dragons put in their heads into their snout, and so stop their breath, and withall, fret and gnaw the tenderest parts that they find there.

(Translated by Philomel Holland, 1601.
"The Book of Naturalists: An Anthology of the Best Natural History", 1944. p. 20)”
― Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historiae

“True glory consists in doing what deserves to be written, in writing what deserves to be read.”
― Pliny the Elder

“Sutor, Ne Ultra Crepidam”
― Pliny the Elder

“At the same distance from it is the city of Sala, situate on a river which bears the same name, a place which stands upon the very verge of the desert, and though infested by troops of elephants, is much more exposed to the attacks of the nation of the Autololes, through whose country lies the road to Mount Atlas, the most fabulous locality even in Africa.

[...] There formerly existed some Commentaries written by Hanno, a Carthaginian general, who was commanded, in the most flourishing times of the Punic state, to explore the sea-coast of Africa. The greater part of the Greek and Roman writers have followed him, and have related, among other fabulous stories, that many cities there were founded by him, of which no remembrance, nor yet the slightest vestige, now exists. [V,1]”
― Pliny the Elder, Natural History, Volume I: Books 1-2

“Harapan adalah tiang yang menyangga dunia.”
― Pliny the Elder

“Ex Africa semper aliquid novi.”
― Pliny the Elder

“It is madness that certain men have preoccupied their minds with measuring the world and have dared to publish their results.”
― Pliny the Elder, Natural History: A Selection

“The path of the Sun consists of 360 degrees; but, in order that the shadow may return to the same point of the dial, we are obliged to add, in each year, five days and the fourth part of a day. On this account an intercalary day is given to every fifth year, that the period of the seasons may agree with that of the Sun.”
― Pliny the Elder, Complete Works of Pliny the Elder

“THE MODE IN WHICH ISLANDS RISE UP. Land is sometimes formed in a different manner, rising suddenly out of the sea, as if nature was compensating the earth for its losses, restoring in one place what she had swallowed up in another.”
― Pliny the Elder, Complete Works of Pliny the Elder

“Nulla dies sine linea”
― Pliny the Elder

“The greatest value among the objects of human property, not only among precious stones, is due to the diamond, for a long time known only to kings and even to very few of these.”
― Pliny the Elder

“The only certainty is that nothing is certain”
― Pliny the Elder

“Magpies love to hear words which they can speak; and not only do they learn them, but they enjoy it; and as they repeat them over to themselves with the greatest care and attention, make no secret of the interest they feel. It is a well-known fact, that a magpie has died before now, when it has found itself mastered by a difficult word that it could not pronounce. Their memory, however, will fail them if they do not from time to time hear the same word repeated; and while they are trying to recollect it, they will show the most extravagant joy, if they happen to hear it.

Natural History Book X, chapter lix”
― Pliny the Elder, [Natural History: Bks.VIII-XI v. 3] (By: Pliny The Elder) [published: December, 1940]

“It is ascertained that the eclipses complete their whole revolution in the space of 223 months, that the eclipse of the sun takes place only at the conclusion or the commencement of a lunation, which is termed conjunction, while an eclipse of the moon takes place only when she is at the full, and is always a little farther advanced than the preceding eclipse. Now there are eclipses of both these stars in every year, which take place below the earth, at stated days and hours; and when they are above it they are not always visible, sometimes on account of the clouds, but more frequently, from the globe of the earth being opposed to the vault of the heavens. It was discovered two hundred years ago, by the sagacity of Hipparchus, that the moon is sometimes eclipsed after an interval of five months, and the sun after an interval of seven; also, that he becomes invisible, while above the horizon, twice in every thirty days, but that this is seen in different places at different times. But the most wonderful circumstance is, that while it is admitted that the moon is darkened by the shadow of the earth, this occurs at one time on its western, and at another time on its eastern side. And farther, that although, after the rising of the sun, that darkening shadow ought to be below the earth, yet it has once happened, that the moon has been eclipsed in the west, while both the luminaries have been above the horizon. And as to their both being invisible in the space of fifteen days, this very thing happened while the Vespasians were emperors, the father being consul for the third time, and the son for the second.   Detailed table of contents”
― Pliny the Elder, Complete Works of Pliny the Elder